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The New Star Twinkles in the Dawn Sky...
Synopsis Part 1 A man, the only survivor of his expedition, explores the interior of the Gate and discovers a glowing flower. In the present day, Hei has breakfast and stops by a small store. A schoolgirl, Mai Kashiwagi, misses her train in the morning. Hei checks into a construction site to begin work and meets Kōzō Tahara, the man from the Hell's Gate expedition. Two men, monitored by Huang, check into a hotel and reveal their plans to use convince Tahara to obey them. Mai awakens in front of a fire and is sent home from her school. When Hei attempts to drive her home, she escapes and runs off with friends. Hei later makes contact with her and entertains her. However, they are attacked as they travel through the city. Mai reacts and an inferno is seen in her eyes as Misaki Kirihara is informed of a new star. Part 2 The aftermath of Mai's reaction reveals that she has become a Moratorium. The collective groups pursuing Mai change their plans and her continued impulses cause additional infernos. Kanami Ishizaki, Kirihara's high school friend, discusses the Moratorium with Kirihara. During the full-scale civilian evacuation, Mai reacts again and accidentally kills her friend and her friend's father. When the police move to retrieve her, they are attacked by Luc, a Contractor. He kidnaps Mai and they use her to force Tahara to reveal his research. Tahara tells Hei of the research, but Hei leaves in disgust and leaves to retrieve Mai. He is defeated when Mai's kidnappers threaten Mai's life, but Tahara arrives. He hands over the remains of his research, and attempts to kill Mai. Luke kills Tahara, and, in turn, is killed by Hei. Mai transforms fully into a Contractor and is sent off to the Syndicate. Details In a foggy and desolate city filled with bloody splatters, body parts, and stacks of bodies, a man wearing a biohazard suit reports back to his superiors that he doesn’t understand and can’t explain what happened. When this man trips on a human leg, he takes off his helmet and starts to throw up. He then notices a glowing plant growing nearby and is shocked when a pod pops seeds into the air in front of him. Sometime later, Li is going about his normal life hanging up laundry and cooking loads of food for himself. On his way to work, he runs into the landlady who has managed to capture Mao. In their conversation, the landlady mentions that the Chinese eat almost everything with four legs, so Li replies that although he hasn’t eaten a cat, he thinks it might be delicious. This of course gets Mao pissed off and he starts fighting with the landlady. Li then heads by a small neighborhood store that’s being operated by Yin and nonchalantly picks up a pack of cigarettes and a wristwatch. At work, Li is assigned to deliver a package to a man named Tahara who is the only person remaining from the first investigative team that went into the Hell's Gate. Li finds Tahara’s office to be filled with books and quite messy, though he notices that all the literature is about gardening, including the magazine that was in the package. Elsewhere in the city, a junior high school girl named Mai blanks out while waiting for a train and comes to her senses again in front of a pile of burning garbage in an alley. She gets caught trying to put out the fire, and a little later, Tahara receives a phone call from her school. In a hurry to get there, Tahara has Li drive him. While waiting outside the school in the car, Li gets paid a visit by Mao who reports that employees of the Meyer & Hilton Company have arrived at a Shinjuku hotel. These men are under the watch of Huang and had been talking about needing Tahara’s power. Li is actually listening in on the conversation going on inside the school through the special watch that he switched with Tahara’s earlier. Mai, who has a very strained relationship with her father Tahara, is denying that she burned anything and claims that it was burning in front of her when she came to her senses. Hearing this, Tahara finally speaks up and drags Mai out of the principal’s office. On the car ride home, he asks Mai if it what she claimed is true and then peppers her with questions about if this is the first time or if it’s been happening frequently. She doesn’t answer him and instead says that it’s unusual for him to be talking to her. Tahara responds to this by trying to grab her, but she frees herself from his grip on her bandaged arm. While the car is stuck in traffic, Mai sees some friends on the sidewalk, so she gets out and runs off with them. Concerned about her, Li asks Tahara if this is okay, but Tahara says that this has nothing to do with Li and tells him to drive them back to the factory. Mai goes to a fast food restaurant with her friends and tells them about how her father never comes home, so she’s always alone since she lost her mother. When one of her friends invites her to dinner, Mai ends up excusing herself by saying that her father might come home today. However, Mai finds no one at home, so she runs back out into the city at night. At that time, her father is in his office angrily rejecting a phone call invitation from the Meyer & Hilton Company men. After hanging up, Tahara notices that the flower he has on his windowsill is glowing and goes to water it. Mai meanwhile attempts to shoplift a CD and gets caught, but Li happens to be in the store and saves her. He then helps her out again when she gets stopped and questioned by the police for being out alone at this late hour by pretending to be her brother. Thinking that her father told Li to come watch over her, Mai yells a bunch of hateful things before she starts crying. Li wipes a tear from her face and when she says that she doesn’t want to go back to that dark and empty home, he suggest that they play until morning. Li first decides to take her to a closed amusement park and instructs her to close her eyes. He then uses his powers to turn on all the lights and rides in the area, creating a colorful scene that captivates Mai. She’s thrilled, but the fun is short-lived because the two have to run away when the alarm goes off and the security guard comes after them. Their next stop is a ramen stand where Li eats bowl after bowl of ramen while Mai takes on a huge parfait. By daybreak, Mai has learned that Li is from China and is telling him about how her family used to live in Africa when she notices that he’s looking at her bandaged arm. Since she trusts him now, Mai shows him what’s underneath: a dimly glowing blue light. She explains that it used to glow brighter, but it’s been dimming gradually and has even disappeared on occasion recently. When she was young, her father had told her that this is where the charm that would protect her entered. Li starts questioning her about her father, but Mai only knows that he was doing research. She then asks him about his own family and feels a connection with him upon learning that he has none. Tahara yells at Kenneth that he is not going back to work for him. He wants nothing to with him and Luc. Mai comments on how he’s really like an older brother, but things soon turn serious when Li notices two men approaching them. They try to escape, but get rushed by two more men, so Li attacks them, and Mai can get away. As Mai flees to a nearby construction site, the first two men bring out their guns and start shooting at her. Cornered by them and facing their guns, the light on Mai’s wrist disappears and her eyes become lifeless as flames appear. Back in his office, Tahara is shocked to see the withering flower fall off its stem. Misaki of the police force has meanwhile just finished taking a swim when she gets a call telling her that a star has appeared. Indeed, there is now a new star in the sky and a huge plume of smoke from the direction of the construction site. After staring at the now-withered plant for a moment, Tahara picks up the pot and smashes it on the table. Across town, the police are inspecting the scorched bodies at the construction site and are talking about the appearance of a Moratorium. Watching from nearby, Mao asks Li if he found out anything special about Tahara’s daughter, and this causes Li to remember her showing the faint light coming from her arm. At that moment, Mai is aimlessly wandering the streets of the city when she bumps into a pole and returns to her normal self. Noticing that the faint light that was shining from her wrist is now gone, Mai runs out into the street in a panic and nearly gets run over by a truck. The only thing that saves her is her own flame power igniting the vehicle and its occupants. Refusing to acknowledge that she was responsible, Mai runs off. Kirihara Misaki meanwhile is in her car getting briefed on the Meyer & Hilton Company which uses Contractors as weapons and is crossbreeding people of different abilities to produce hybrids. They also are experimenting on using brain surgery to allow ordinary people to get contracts. When Misaki asks about the connection to the appearance of the Moratorium, she is told that it is uncertain. However, about 10 years ago, there was a Japanese person who was employed as a researcher and is connected to this appearance of a new star. Misaki is told to hurry because they must secure and isolate the Moratorium - they are neither Contractors nor Dolls, but rather failed monsters. Misaki then arrives at the National Astronomical Observatory and goes inside to see the old Hoshimi (Stargazer). Afterward, the female chief Ishizaki explains to Misaki that those known as Moratorium delay the compensation that Contractors have to do. After a period of time, Moratorium become Dolls, much like their observatory’s spirit mediums. These Moratorium are different from standard Contractors in that they can’t control their own power. Misaki looks so serious after hearing all this that Ishizaki teases her about permanently wrinkling her brow. Back in the city, many of the residents have been asked to evacuate because of a supposed gas main break. Mai’s friend Yuka spots her sitting alone in an alley and tries to convince Mai to escape with everyone else. When Yuka’s father joins in to coax Mai out, she tells them not to come towards her. The father tries to grab her arm, but Mai’s power activates and start burning his arm. Yuka then notices that her feet are on fire, and soon both she and her father are completely engulfed in flames. Unable to watch her friend burn to death, Mai runs away again. Because of this incident, Misaki and the others at the Observatory are alerted to her location and get her surrounded with police. Unfortunately, all of those officers die bloody deaths after being cut apart by the large, black man Luke’s Contractor power. Later that afternoon, Tahara gets a phone call from Kenneth who, along with Luke, is now holding Mai hostage. Kenneth still wants Tahara’s research that seals Contractor ability and knows that Tahara had used his own daughter as an experiment. Nearby, Mai is drawing on the ground and has taken on a very child-like persona. As Tahara hangs up the phone, he hears Li asking him if it’s true that he used his daughter as an experiment. Li also questions what Tahara put into her wrist. Starting from the beginning, Tahara explains that he is the only person remaining from the first investigative team that went into the Hell’s Gate. He had taken from there a certain substance that he discovered could seal a Contractor’s ability when embedded into a Contractor’s body. At the time, he had been employed by the Meyer & Hilton Company. When he found out about his daughter’s ability, he tried to seal it off by putting the substance into her wrist. He continued his research because the seed would someday decay and her abilities would activate again. Tahara realized that it was impossible to completely seal off the powers, and what’s more, the person embedded with the seed would be transformed into a Moratorium. Thus, he now feels guilty about having changed her into a monster because he didn’t want her to become a Contractor. Continuing his explanation, Tahara says that all the data was destroyed, Mai’s memories were deleted with the ME, and he left the company. When Tahara claims that he really didn’t want to make Mai an experiment, Li accuses him of abandoning everything and running away. This gets Tahara mad enough to pin Li to the bookcase and declare again that it’s impossible to seal off the abilities, so he couldn’t continue with the meaningless experiment that his daughter became. As he calms down, Tahara reveals that he had two seeds. One was the one in Mai’s wrist and the other was planted to grow a new plant for when the seed in Mai’s wrist decayed. He had hoped that this would allow him to seal off forever the Moratorium that Mai would become. Tahara then tells Li that the only time he was able to rest his mind was when he was watering this plant. However, that’s over now because the seed was not able to bear fruit. As Li starts to walk out, Tahara admits that he was scared of the moment where he would see the result of his mistake. That night, Hei attacks kidnapper’s warehouse and forces his way through until he comes face to face with Luke. Hei manages to keep from getting sliced apart by Luke, but he does get his mask cut off. The fight gets interrupted when Kenneth sees Tahara come in and ask for his daughter back. Although he refuses to return to the company, Tahara is willing to hand over his research. Since Tahara wants Mai back first, Kenneth lets her go back to her father, but Mai says that she doesn’t want to because she doesn’t know who he is. Tahara then walks up and grabs her arm, causing her flame powers to flare up again. With his daughter back, Tahara tosses Kenneth the remains of the plant that he had been growing. Kenneth thinks that this is a joke, but Tahara insists that this is all his research. Before Kenneth can take the flower though, it burns up because of Mai’s power. Even after Tahara hugs her, Mai continues to resist her father’s grasp, saying that her real father is cooler and more amazing. When Tahara admits that her father is a cruel person, Mai actually rejects this notion and says that she loves her father. Having heard this, Tahara tells Mai that he loves her too, but, unbeknownst to her, he’s also holding a dagger ready to stab her. Before Tahara can kill his daughter, Luke fires at his hand and forces him to drop the weapon. Since they have no more use for him, Luke follows this up by impaling Tahara with a projectile. By now, however, Hei has managed to get behind Luke and him. In his final breaths, Tahara tells his daughter that his work is finally finished and says to her that he’s home. With tears in her eyes, Mai welcomes him back. Her father now dead, Mai stands up and gets ready to kill Kenneth. Hei attempts to tell her to stop, but she turns around and questions why, all while her eyes have started glowing Contractor red. She then engulfs Kenneth in flames until the sprinkler system turns on and puts out all the fires. Mai starts singing right as Mao arrives at the warehouse, and the cat figures out that this must be the price for her contract, meaning that she’s changed into a Contractor. Huang also shows up and thinks that Tahara doesn’t matter so much since they’ve obtained something interesting instead. When Mai stops singing, she thinks that she killed a lot of people, so Huang tells her that this isn’t something to get depressed about. He also answers Heaven when she asks where she’s going now. By the time the police arrive on the scene the next morning, everything is gone except for Tahara’s body, and Misaki recounts that they weren’t able to find the Moratorium or BK-201. The only certain thing for her is that the new star that was born then still hadn’t fallen yet. Quotes on Episode 3 Dubbed Tahara: furious For the last time, I'm not coming backtoo work for you! I want nothing to do with you people! Kenneth: So that's how it is. I can see I'll have to find some way to be more persuasive. Give you one last chance. Tahara: Go to hell!! Kenneth: Yeah, it's me. We're moving on to the next step. Right. The daughter. Quotes on Episode 4 Dubbed Tahara: I told you before, I want nothing to do with you people! Yin's Poetry Preview Episode 3 Moratorium, A contract deferred. Power without price. But this reprieve is only temporary, The true cost becomes clear in time. Loss of self, loss of control. The last proof of a father's love withers and fades. The final connections to normal life are gone. The daughter's screaming ignites a spark. The spark ignites a flame. And in the end, Everything burns. Episode 4 In eastern Europe, they found her. The woman who was once the devil, But the fires have long since gone out. What they see reflected in her vacant eyes, Is only the cold white light of loss. Is the sigh that escapes her unopened lips a devil's whisper? Or is it a sigh of relief? The winds of destruction were never supposed to blow again. And then, the trap was set. Characters in Order of Appearance Episode 3 Episode 4 Gallery Story 2 title.png Story 2 quote.png S1E3 Hei, Misuzu Ōyama and Mao.png S1E3 Kōzō Tahara finds flowers.png|Kōzō Tahara finds flowers. S1E3 Mai and Tahara in school office.png|Mai and Tahara in school office. S1E4 Otsuka, Misaki and Kanami.png|Ōtsuka, Misaki and Kanami. S1E3 Mai and Hei at carnival.png|Mai and Hei at carnival. S1E4 Mai burns truck thats about to kill her.png|Mai burns truck that's about to kill her. S1E4 Tahara and Hei.png|Tahara and Hei. S1E4 Tahara grabs Hei.png|Tahara grabs Hei. S1E4 Kenneth holds Mai.png|Kenneth holds Mai. S1E4 Tahara tries to kill Mai.png|Tahara tries to kill Mai. S1E4 Hei kills Luc.png|Hei kills Luc. TaharaEp3.png|Tahara Navigation